The Film Festival
It was exciting to see entries from so many different countries at the film festival. This resulted in a wide variation of styles beyond the usual documentaries. Entries included films from Belarus (utterly charming mice), Argentinia (dystopian mouse) and Thailand (space dragon). There was live action from Mirage3D (Mars 101), ridiculously detailed animation of a coral reef from CalAcademy (Expedition Reef) and more live aurora footage than you could shake a stick at.
The highpoint for me however was a(nother) award for Creative Planet's show Explore, for which I reworked the English translation. The Eugenides Foundation Award for Best Educational Production is given purely for educational value - ignoring things like quality of animation. This is a real coup for such a beautiful show. And the first time I've been present to get an award photo (thank you Maciej for letting me get my grubby hands on it).
The conference
Cité de l'espace was a fantastic venue in that there was very little walking between venues, and plenty of opportunity to explore inspiring exhibitions. This included the chance to climb inside a cramped Soyuz* capsule on my way to visit Mir*. We also got to meet Curiosity* - such an impressive beast.
It was great to meet up with friends and colleagues from across the world, the conference having attracted delegates from a dizzying number of countries. Great things surely happen when so many interesting people from different cultures come together with the aim to bring good to the world. Seeing people together in the Sky-Skan immersive party tent, exhibiting a wide range of highly personal styles and moves while struggling together to dance to terrible gangsta rap, gave me hope for the future of humanity.
There was also of course the opportunity to hatch new plots and plans, with friends old and new. This was especially exciting now that I am able to support a much wider variety of projects than has previously been possible.
Finally, within the conference, Kaoru Kimura and I ran a session about avoidable flaws in fulldome productions that prevent sale. We were particularly interested in culturally-specific issues that might suprise producers from other regions. I will be disseminating this information as promised, although I'll be developing this resource futher before sharing it with the community.
* Ok I know they're only models, but it's as close as I'm going to get!